I recently sold my house and bought another that has a sump pit and pump. This is new to me.....I've never owened a house with a pit and pump and have a few questions. Keep in mind we haven't had any significant rainfall in a month. My pit fills every 15-20 minutes with clean clear water, no muddy stuff, and then empties. After talking to my neighbor who lives 50 feet beside me on the same elevation I discovered that their pit is almost always dry and currently has no water in it.....the same goes for my other neighbors. Do I have an issue? Maybe a leak in the water line from the street to the indoor meter? Just a FYI, I live in town on a hill with no low wet areas. Any ideas on this matter would be great!!!

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1995 Toyota Pickup
2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400
2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6
1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat

if you suspect your water main .. monitor your water bill

you live up north so maybe your sitting on an aquifer(dp)

Yes, wouldn't a comparison of the metter reading inside your house with the one at the street give you a good idea of a leak of that size?

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

20 Feet can be a huge difference if a water vein is near your house it will fill, his tile maybe draining or seeping elsewhere. I live in the sump pump capital of the world so let me know if you need any other advice.

the real trick is to make sure you have a back up sump pump because the ALWAYS fail sometimes months sometimes years,,,,like the Oil Pressure guage on a W124, it just a matter of time.

Howitzer, any advice on a backup pump brand or type? Also, my pit is sealed with a plastic top, caulked around the edges and it has a clear window on top for viewing the interior. Is this a standard setup? If it is completely sealed will it leak if the power fails or will the water go elswhere? I'm thinking of pulling the plug tonight to let the pit fill and see what happens.....good idea or not?

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1995 Toyota Pickup
2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400
2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6
1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat

When my Radon mitigation system was installed, part of the process was to install a sealed sump pit cover like you described: a viewing port in the top and sealed around the edge.

If the pump fails, water will continue to accumulate until it finds the path of least resistance, which would probably be the caulking around the edge of the sump pit cover.

As far as back-up sump pumps, I use the Basement WatchDog "Big Dog". This has a 12 volt battery to provide pumping in the event of power failure, but the pump can also run off 120 volts if the power has not failed. I find this feature important because if the main pump fails (as in jams or burns out), you are not running down the battery while 120 volts is still available.

http://www.basementwatchdog.com/basement_watchdog_bigdog.htm

If I pop the cap off at the sidewalk is there a meter inside? If so, should that reading match the one for the inside meter?

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1995 Toyota Pickup
2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400
2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6
1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat

My house has a meter at the tap on the main and at the main shut off valve in the basement. Presumably they will both read the same if there is no leak. If your sump is running that much, I would think it would show up in a comparison of the two meters.

I'm not a plumbing expert, but I sometimes pretend to be.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

It is not a leaking water main if it were water would be bubbling out of the ground. Personally the best sump pumps are the submersable with the upright as a back-up.

A back up pump with battery power is the key.

More later gotta golf.

You're probably on top of an aquifer or vein but monitoring your water bill wouldn't hurt.

If your pump is an AC unit it's not a bad idea to rig up a 12V battery/trickle charger/DC to AC converter to plug it into since oftentimes heavy rainfall coincides with the loss of power.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

their usually is a meter on the ones outside down here...

I'll check it out tonight.

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1995 Toyota Pickup
2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400
2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6
1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat

I'd be interested to hear the result of their inspection if you hire them, HD.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Here are a few more thoughts.
Take a sample of the water in your sump to someone and have it tested for Chlorine. Maybe your local water company will do this. The presence of chlorine would indicate treated ( municipal ) water rather than ground water.

Another possible source could be a leaking blow-off valve for the water heater, although you'd notice that lack of hot water.

House built in 1978, hmmm. Could it have the blue polybutelene ( spelling?) water line from the main to your house? Is there a patch of really green grass that always seems to grow even when the rest of the yard is dry and dead? Does that patch of green grass coincide with the water line from the street to your house?

Water meters inside and outside your house probably show different numbers, as they were probably installed at different times. What you need to do is check the water used in specific time period on each meter--looking at the difference between the two readings on each meter--that should agree.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags